Eideard

Every autumn, as predictably as falling leaves, flu season descends upon us. Every spring, just as predictably, the season comes to a close. This cyclical pattern, common in temperate regions, is well known, but the driving forces behind it have been in question.

Do existing strains die off each spring, only to be replaced each fall by new founding strains from other parts of the world, or does a “hidden chain of sickness” persist over the summer, seeding the next season’s epidemic?

A genetic analysis by University of Michigan postdoctoral fellow Trevor Bedford and colleagues at U-M, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Florida State University reveals that in the United States, not all strains of influenza die off at the end of winter; some move southward to South America, and some migrate even farther.

“We found that although China and Southeast Asia play the largest role in the influenza A migration network, temperate regions — particularly the USA — also make important contributions,” Bedford said. Rather than dying off at the end of our flu season, many strains simply move on to more favorable environments.

Growing knowledge about patterns of flu migration eventually may make it possible to tailor vaccines to particular locations, Bedford said.

“We found, for instance, that South America gets almost all of its flu from North America. This would suggest that rather than giving South America the same vaccine that the rest of the world gets, you could construct a vaccine preferentially from the strains that were circulating in North America the previous season. As we gather more data from other regions, this could be done for the entire world.”

All the more reason to develop a universal flu vaccine – even if it needs to be tailored geographically.

Investigators for the Department of Justice began asking questions about Apple’s business practices involving digital music at least three weeks ago, multiple music industry sources told CNET.

DOJ investigators have interviewed numerous executives at record companies and digital music stores and according to those with knowledge of the discussions, it is clear that investigators are interested in learning whether Apple has employed anticompetitive tactics.

The sources said that the department’s inquiry is just in a fact-finding stage and that there is nothing to indicate investigators have found any wrongdoing or would file a complaint against Apple…

Apple has a history of throwing its weight around the music sector. Apple’s iTunes accounts for 70 percent of all digital song sales and wields huge power. Apple has often used that clout to dictate terms to suppliers — that is, the major labels.

Here are just a few examples: The major labels wanted variable pricing on songs and albums and for years Apple resisted. In 2005, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the top recording companies were “getting greedy”after music execs considered a music price hike. Last year, Apple finally gave the labels some additional control over song pricing.

The big record companies wanted the ability to sell albums that were unbundled, meaning they wanted Apple to sell hot LPs as a full package and refrain from selling individual songs from these works. Again, on this issue Apple hasn’t given much ground.

To iTunes’ fans, Apple was a freedom fighter. The perception was that Apple was standing up for consumers.

Apple’s refusal to force customers to buy full albums saved them from having to shell out money for songs they didn’t want. To them, Apple’s reluctance to raise the 99 cent song price was another way the company kept music costs down. And the government never made a peep about these practices.

Regardless of papier mache whines like this, the DOJ isn’t about to investigate the MPAA or RIAA. They aren’t even prepared to come down on the side of consumers and protect Fair Use – which has been eroded every year by greedy entertainment giants, pliable bureaucrats and judges.

Ginger McGuire, 36, is suing for false imprisonment, infliction of emotional distress and negligence, her attorney Geoffrey Fieger said.

Mrs McGuire fell asleep on a late-night United Express flight from Washington, DC, to Philadelphia. She failed to wake up after the 50-passenger plane touched down at 12:27 am local time and everyone else disembarked.

A cleaning crew eventually roused her, but she was kept locked in the plane until federal officers were satisfied that she was not a terrorist.

Mr Fieger is a high-profile attorney…

Mrs. McGuire is a ninny.

The airline will probably get ripped-off for complying with TSA regulations.

Country singer Willie Nelson cut his trademark waist-long braids recently in what his own website has dubbed the “Haircut Heard Around the World.”

Spokeswoman Elaine Schock told The Associated Press that Nelson didn’t make a big fuss about it, and she theorized he might have grown tired of dealing with the long locks….

More recently, Victoria Beckham’s hairstyle sparked a hair craze. Her short bob was even copied by other celebrities, including friend Katie Holmes.

I cut out all of the nonsense bullshit from “experts” telling us what this “means”.

The truth is, it’s important enough to blog because, well, uh …

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The House of Representatives has delivered a victory to President Barack Obama and gay rights groups by approving a proposal to repeal the law that allows gays to serve in the military only if they don’t disclose their sexual orientation.

The 234-194 vote to overturn the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy reflected a view among many in Congress that America was ready for a military in which gays and straights can stand side by side in the trenches.

“I know that our military draws its strength on the integrity of our unified force, and current law challenges this integrity by creating two realities within the ranks,” Democratic Rep. Susan Davis.

In a statement after the House vote, Obama hailed the day’s congressional action as “important bipartisan steps toward repeal.”

“This legislation will help make our armed forces even stronger and more inclusive by allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve honestly and with integrity,” Obama said.

Republicans, who voted overwhelmingly against it, cited statements by some military leaders that they need more time to study how a change in the law could affect the lives and readiness of service members…

“NO” is replaced by “not in my lifetime”.

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The Obama administration has unveiled a new national security doctrine that would join diplomatic engagement and economic discipline with military power to bolster America’s standing in the world.

Striking a contrast to the Bush-era emphasis on going it alone, President Barack Obama’s strategy called for expanding partnerships beyond traditional U.S. allies to encompass rising powers like China and India in order to share the international burden.

Faced with a struggling economy and record deficits, the administration also acknowledged that boosting economic growth and getting the U.S. fiscal house in order must be core national security priorities.

“At the center of our efforts is a commitment to renew our economy, which serves as the wellspring of American power,” the wide-ranging policy statement said.

Obama’s first official declaration of national security goals, due to be released in full later on Thursday, pointedly omitted predecessor George W. Bush’s policy of pre-emptive war that alienated some U.S. allies…

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The U.S. government’s broad move to crack down on offshore oil safety will include the temporary suspension of 33 deepwater exploration rigs, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Thursday after unveiling a series of measures in the wake of the massive BP oil leak.

The halt represents the biggest regulatory threat to the immediate growth of U.S. oil production, potentially delaying project development plans by companies like Chevron Corp in the Gulf of Mexico, where rising output has helped offset shrinking domestic onshore supply.

Unlike the administration’s six-month extension of its ban on new deepwater drilling permits and its decision to cancel a much-anticipated lease sale offshore Virginia, the indefinite pause for existing deep-sea exploratory rigs to meet new safety requirements threatens to affect proven oil discoveries rather than untested areas.

“These actions are all guided by the need to take a cautious approach to offshore oil and gas development, as we strengthen safety and oversight of offshore oil and gas operations,” Salazar said.

In other words, all the crap loopholes provided by eight years of the Oil Patch Boys running the show in Washington still have to be plugged.

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The Atlantic storm season may be the most intense since 2005, when Hurricane Katrina killed over a thousand people after crashing through Gulf of Mexico energy facilities, the U.S. government’s top climate agency has predicted.

In its first forecast for the storm season that begins next Tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast 14 to 23 named storms, with 8 to 14 developing into hurricanes, nearly matching 2005′s record of 15.

Three to seven of those could be major Category 3 or above hurricanes, with winds of more than 110 miles per hour, the agency said, echoing earlier predictions from meteorologists for a particularly severe season that could disrupt U.S. oil, gas and refinery operations.

“If this outlook holds true, this season could be one of the more active on record,” said Jane Lubchenco, NOAA’s administrator. “The greater likelihood of storms brings an increased risk of a landfall.”

In addition to the risk that major hurricanes can pose to about one-quarter of U.S. oil production and more than a 10th of natural gas output offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, this year’s storms could threaten to complicate efforts to combat the environmental disaster of BP’s gushing oil well.

The hurricane season officially starts on June 1 and typically peaks between late August and mid-October. An average Atlantic hurricane season brings 11 tropical storms with six hurricanes, including two major hurricanes, NOAA said…

Private forecaster WSI and Colorado State University’s hurricane-forecasting team so far expect the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season to produce at least eight hurricanes, four of them major, posing a heightened threat to the U.S. coastline.

CSU forecasters are expected to ramp up their prediction for the 2010 season in a report due out on June 2.

“The numbers are going to go up quite high,” William Gray, the hurricane forecast pioneer who founded CSU’s storm research team, said on Wednesday. “This looks like a hell of a year.”

I wish the head-in-the-sand crowd would all move down to the beach for the season. Reality might finally have a chance to bite them on their unfounded skeptical fundaments.

Hail, hail, the gang’s all here!
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Dozens of Italian women who have had relationships with Roman Catholic priests or lay monks have endorsed an open letter to the pope that calls for the abolition of the celibacy rule. The letter, thought by one signatory to be unprecedented, argues that a priest “needs to live with his fellow human beings, experience feelings, love and be loved”.

It also pleads for understanding of those who “live out in secrecy those few moments the priest manages to grant [us] and experience on a daily basis the doubts, fears and insecurities of our men”.

The issue was put back on the Vatican’s agenda in March when one of Pope Benedict’s senior advisers, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the archbishop of Vienna, said the abolition of the celibacy rule might curb sex abuse by priests, a suggestion he hastily withdrew after Benedict spoke up for “the principle of holy celibacy”.

The authors of the letter said they decided to come into the open after hearing his retort, which they said was an affirmation of “the holiness of something that is not holy” but a man-made rule. There are many instances of married priests in the early centuries of Christianity. Today, priests who follow the eastern Catholic rites can be married, as can those who married before converting to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism.

One signatory, Stefania Salomone, 42, an office manager, said the message to the pope had been endorsed by nearly 40 women registered with an online forum linked to Il Dialogo website. But such was the sensitivity of the issue that only three had published their names…

My family walked away from the Roman Catholic church almost 70 years ago – over the question of freedom to access means of birth control. I think it unlikely that the church is ready to engage intelligent dialogue on an even more demanding subject.

Living in the 21st Century, peering backwards at an ideology, superstition, rooted to the Dark Ages like a tumor clinging to an organ it has already sucked dry of life – I hardly see any reason for this attempt at dialogue except to illustrate the unwillingness of Papal princes to learn and grow into the real world.